DAWN OF EMPIRE 1898 Rules Booklet

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Table of Contents:

1.0 Introduction 2.0 Object of Play 3.0 Components

3.1 Rules

3.2 Map

3.3 Counters

3.4 Example Counters

3.5 Definition of Terms 4.0 Sequence of Play 5.0 Orders

5.1 Anchor

5.2 Blockade

5.3 Coal

5.4 Patrol

5.5 Raid

5.6 Sortie

5.7 Transit 6.0 Movement

6.1 Areas & Ports

6.2 Squadrons

6.3 Independent Forces

6.4 Reinforcements

6.5 Coaling

6.6 Sea Control 7.0 Combat

7.1 Determining Initiative

7.2 Search Resolution

7.3 Combat Resolution

7.4 Leaders

7.5 Port Attack Resolution 8.0 Disengagement

8.1 By Gunfire Resolution

8.2 By Speed 9.0 Area Control, Victory Points, & Set-Up

9.1 Area Control

9.2 Area Victory Points

9.3 Losses Victory Points

9.4 Orders Victory Points

9.5 Victory

9.6 Set Up 10.0 Damage Repair 11.0 Optional Rules

11.A Extra Time

11.B Delayed Repair

11.C Maintenance

11.D Bidding

11.E Handicapping

11.F Fog Of War

11.G Auto Victory 11.H Restricting Disabled Units 11.I Speed Defined Subgroups

11.J Extra Warships 11.K Free Deployment 11.L The Germans 12.0 Design Notes 13.0 Credits 14.0 Detailed Example Of Play

1.0 Introduction

DAWN OF EMPIRE is a war game centered on the naval aspects of the Spanish-American War of 1898 in the Atlantic Ocean. The game depicts this conflict at a strategic level, with most operational and tactical details represented by fast and easy-to-play systems, rather than intricate mechanisms. The intent of the game is to provide a broad overview of the historical events while being fun to play. DAWN OF EMPIRE owes its original inspiration to WAR AT SEA, designed and published by John Edwards of JEDKO and developed later by Don Greenwood for publication by The Avalon Hill Game Company, a game which covered the war in the Atlantic in World War II. DAWN OF EMPIRE borrows a number of concepts from this earlier game as a starting point, such as area movement, individual capital ships, battle line resolutions, and rolling sixes to hit. It then diverges significantly in other areas to reflect the Spanish-American War situation.

2.0 Object of Play The object of the game for the United States player is to control the sea areas around the US Atlantic coast and Caribbean Sea to prevent Spanish combatants from supporting their island holdings and to destroy the naval forces of Spain. The object of the game for the Spanish player is to disrupt United States sea control, retain sea control around the Spanish coastline for as long as possible, and destroy United States naval forces. Both players must deploy their naval resources into the sea areas on the map to earn victory points at the end of each turn for areas under their control, blockaded, and for opposing units destroyed. The total from the Victory Point Track at the end of the last turn of the game determines which player wins. The United States player wins if the total is 6 or more points in their favor. The Spanish player wins if the total is 6 or more points in their favor. If the total is 5 points or less in either Š2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898

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side’s favor, the game is a draw.

3.0 Components

3.43 Turn and Victory Point Track Markers: These markers are used on the appropriate tracks on the map to keep record of the turn in play and the victory level.

3.1 Rules: This booklet you are reading constitutes the rules for the play of DAWN OF EMPIRE. In general, the rules are sequenced similarly to the order of events played during a turn. If you have questions, or wish to check for corrections to any errors that may have been discovered since publication, please go to the web page of Compass Games.

3.2 Map: The map depicts the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. These waters are subdivided into areas of different shapes, each of which is named. Area shape carries no special meaning.

Solid border lines and land masses separate these areas from one another. In general, movement will be between adjacent areas.

Ports are present on the coast of some land masses and the eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean areas. Units deploy from these Ports and return to them as per the movement rules. Ports are controlled by the United States, Spain, or are neutral.

3.3 Counters: The die cut playing pieces supplied with the game are termed ‘counters’. They represent combat forces or indicators for various game functions. Counters may be either ‘units’ or ‘markers’. Each unit represents one battleship (BB), or monitor ship (MO), or armored cruiser (CA), or protected cruiser (CP) or unprotected cruiser (CU) or gun boat (GB) or shore batteries (with the name of the Port). The other counters are all termed ‘markers’ in the rules. Markers are used to represent leaders, area control, victory points, orders, damage, etc.

3.4 Example Counters: Examples of the locations of the various values on the ship unit, Port markers and leader markers are found on the map.

3.41 Ship Units: The top line contains the Nation, Unit Type & Start Location /Entry Turn information across the top line, the Unit Name and Silhouette in the center, and the Attack, Defense & Movement values across the bottom line.

Start locations: HR is Hampton Roads MB is Mobile KW is Key West EC is East Coast sea area CI is Canary Islands CZ is Cádiz HV is Havana SJ is San Juan SA is Santiago CE is Cienfuegos VE for the optional German units is Caracas

3.42 Order Markers: Each order marker has a single order on the front and is blank on the back so the order issued to the units in the stack under the marker is undisclosed until needed.

3.44 Area Control Markers and Damage Markers: Control markers have an American Flag on one side and a Spanish flag on the other.

When placed in an area with the appropriate side up they indicate control for that area. Damage markers have numbers on both sides and are used as needed to indicate damage taken by units during play. They are interchangeable and can be used as full value on the side facing up or in combinations as change.

3.45 Leader Markers and Port Shore Defenses Markers: Leader markers indicate the name of the leader, a rank value for his leadership, and the name of the Squadron under his command and its historical starting position. Port (Shore Defense) markers have a mine value and their location on the top line, the name of the Port on the middle line, and as with ship units, their Attack, Defense & Movement across the bottom line, though the movement value will always be zero. They indicate ‘Disrupted’ on their reverse side.

3.46 Disabled and Sunk Markers: These markers are used to indicate units that have been disabled or sunk during combat until those units are removed from play.

3.5 Definitions of Terms: Navy – The combat capable units of each side constitute the navy for that player.

Squadron – Any stack of friendly units containing two or more combat unit counters is considered to be a Squadron for game purposes. See 6.2.

Independent Units – Units that are not stacked with any other unit or leader marker, that is single units, may still be moved to sea, but do so as Independent Units. See rule 6.3.

Units – The capital and supporting ships of the opposing players, either as individual ships or in Squadrons are represented as large counters and referred to as Units. See rules 6.2 and 6.3.

Forces – a general term for all units, whether in a Squadron or independent, with or without a leader.

Battle Line – The Battle Line is used to resolve combat.

It represents the units that are to stand in lines of battle for extended gunfire combat in the sequence in which they are sailing into that combat. See rule 7.31.

Markers – Markers are used to deal with other game functions such as orders, leaders, Sea Area control, tracking ©2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898

victory points, the game turn, etc.

Sea Areas – The map is divided into 17 named Sea Areas.

The borders of these areas run through the seas which, along with adjacent land zones, indicate the boundaries of each sea area.

(Some of the land zones contain Ports.) See rule 6.1. Each player earns a number of victory points at the conclusion of each Combat Phase for the Sea Areas controlled. See rule 9.0.

Ports – Ports exist on the land zones adjacent to some Sea Areas. See rule 6.1. Ports are not part of the sea area to which they are adjacent. Units often start movement from a Port. They move to an adjacent Sea Area as their first move, spending the required movement points to do so. When moving into a Port they must be in a sea area with the Port on adjacent land and must spend a single movement point to enter the Port. Unlike in other War At Sea family games, units are not required to return to a Port at the end of a turn. The Spanish Ports are indicated with yellow circles and a number, while the United States Ports are indicated with blue circles and a number. All of the remaining Ports are neutral and have the name of the Port, and a 2 letter national designation. The number within a Port’s circle indicates its ability to repair damage to friendly ships in the Port. One Neutral port, Caracas, has such a number as well in parenthesis, which can come into play with an optional rule. Note that, in a number of instances, a named Port on the map will actually represent other nearby Ports as well. For instance, for the Spanish, Cádiz also represents the Azores while the Canary Islands also represent the Verdes Islands. For the US, Hampton Roads represents a number of east coast port cities while Mobile represents a number of gulf coast port cities.

4.0 Sequence of Play Each of the turns of the game is composed of the following sequence of events, termed Phases. The Spanish player controls the Spanish counters, normally referred to as Spanish forces, while the United States player controls the United States counters, called the American or United States forces. At the start of each turn, move the Game Turn marker to the box on the Game Turn Record Track representing that turn. Players may also place all of their Forces that did not start the game in play on the Turn Track corresponding to the turn those Forces will enter play.

A. New Forces & Orders Phase: New Forces are those that have not previously been in play. New Forces have the turn of entry for the unit listed on the upper right of their unit counter as well as the letter designator for the Port at which they begin on that turn. If one or both of the players have any new Forces for the turn about to be played, they are placed on the map now. Additionally, any damaged or destroyed ports have any damage markers removed and are flipped back over from their reverse Disabled side to their front full use side.

Order markers are then placed by both player with each stack of their units. Order are placed inverted so that the opposing player

cannot determine which order has been placed At this time, both players should also create the order of units within each stack as every stack is considered a Squadron. If the Squadron has a leader, that leader should be placed on top of the stack. Only one leader in a stack may be counted as the leader for that Squadron and it must be the leader with the most stars. If there is more than one with the same number of stars, only the top leader in the stack is counted. The order of units in the stack will be retained and used to form Battle Lines should a combat for the Squadron be indicated later in the turn. At the end of any such reorganization, begin the Movement Phase.

B. Movement Phase: This phase is composed of two segments.

The Spanish Player moves first and after completing all desired movement, the United States player moves for the second segment.

Each unit has a movement allowance number which represents the maximum movement ability for that unit. Most areas require the expending of a single movement point to be entered, however, all three Atlantic Ocean areas require expending 3 movement points to be entered while the 4 areas representing straits and passages each require expending 2 movement points to be entered. A stack of units that is being moved together as a Squadron may not be moved further than the movement ability of its slowest (lowest movement point) member if it is to remain together as a stack.

Movement must be as a line of contiguous adjacent areas.

Movement is not always required to end when entering an opposing controlled area. (Note: This is unlike other WAR AT SEA family games.) Instead, ending movement is only required when entering an area if that area contains opposing Squadron(s) with Patrol or Blockade orders.

The non-moving player must indicate this when such an area is entered by turning front side up any such order marker in the area.

At the completion of movement, the Combat Phase begins. Units at all times during movement remain face down so they are not disclosed to the opposing player. Orders are also face down unless they need to be disclosed due to other rules.

C. Combat Phase: Combat is resolved one area at a time for all Squadrons in each area that contains Squadrons of both players and passes the search die roll on the Search Matrix chart. The order of combat resolution is determined by the Spanish player.

The resolution of combat within each area follows this sequence:

1. Search Resolution Segment

2. Port Attack Resolution Segment

3. Battle Line Resolution Segment

4. Disengagement Resolution Segment Forces that are still engaged at the conclusion of the Disengagement Resolution Segment must repeat the Battle Line Resolution and Disengagement Resolution Segments in that order as often as required until all Forces involved (except independents) are disengaged or destroyed and the Forces of only one player remain in the area. The Combat Phase is then started for the next area.

D. Area Control & Victory Points Phase: At the end of the

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898 Combat Phase, control of each area is determined by which player has Squadrons remaining in the area (not including Ports in the area), and is used to determine victory points for area control. Additionally, other factors which earn victory points are considered at this time. Rules dealing with the control of areas and other victory point earning items are found in rule 9.0. Remove all old area control markers and then place any new control markers for the area to reflect the new controlling player. Then add victory points for each area and other victory point earning situations to the appropriate player by moving the marker(s) on the Victory Point Track.

E. Repairs Phase: During this phase, any damaged units are repaired by the owning player to the limits of the repair ability of the friendly ports in which the units are located, and any Disabled markers are removed. The completion of repairs ends the turn, and the next turn is begun, or, at the end of turn 6, the game ends.

Optionally, there is a rule that allows play to be continued for up to another 3 turns, that is, up to the conclusion of turn 9.

5.0 Orders Each player will have to give orders to each of their Squadron stacks during the New Forces & Orders Phase of their turn. This is done by picking an order marker of the desired order in that player’s unit color and placing it front side down on top of the Squadron stack.

This order remains undisclosed unless it must be revealed due to actions during the turn described later in the rules. The number of counters provided is an intentional limit on the number of orders of each type available to each player and additional order counters may not be added. Each order is described below.

5.1 Anchor: Squadrons that will remain in the same Port for the turn are considered a single Squadron and must be given an Anchor order.

Squadrons at sea at the start of the player turn in an area with a friendly or neutral Port, or in an area with no ports, may also be given Anchor orders. These must move into that Port during the movement phase or, if there is no port, may not leave the area that turn.

Anchored units may not move further and may not attack, but if they are attacked they defend normally. Anchored Squadrons are not required to Coal in the following turn.

5.2 Blockade: For a Squadron to be given Blockade orders, it must be in a port or sea area with an opposing Port in movement range.

Squadrons with Blockade orders are moved to the sea area of the port to be blockaded and may not move further for the turn. They are considered to be off the Port trying to prevent opposing Forces from entering or leaving the Port. Squadrons with Blockade orders that are still in the area at the end of the turn will earn victory

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points. Squadrons with Blockade orders for the turn must be given coal orders in the following turn.

5.3 Coal: Squadrons with Coal orders, either individual Squadrons that were in Transit or Squadrons that had other orders the previous turn that now require Coaling may not move for the current turn. If opposing Squadrons end movement in the area, they must participate in the Search Matrix roll. If combat results, all have their movement allowance reduced by one (1) movement point for purposes of disengagement resolution. Squadrons are not required to be in a Port to be given Coal orders, however the maximum number of Squadrons that each player may coal per turn that are not in a Port is restricted. See rule 6.5 5.4 Patrol: Squadrons with Patrol orders must move to a sea area if they are in a Port. After moving to sea area from a port, the squadron may then enter a maximum of two more sea areas. If the squadron is already in a sea area at the start of its movement, it may move a maximum of 2 areas away from that starting area, if the units in the squadron have enough movement allowance, or it may remain in their starting area or the first area entered, regardless of their movement allowance amounts.

They are considered to be searching about in the area in general.

Squadrons with Patrol orders for a turn must be given coal or anchor orders in the following turn.

5.5 Raid: Squadrons given Raid orders must be moved to an in range sea area with an opposing Port on one of its borders. Squadrons with Raid orders may not move further than that area during that turn and are considered to be engaging in shore bombardment and/or maritime disruption activities. Squadrons with Raid orders that are still in the area at the end of the turn will earn victory points. Squadrons with Raid orders must be given Transit orders in the following turn and they must end that next turn in a friendly or neutral Port.

5.6 Sortie: Sortie orders may only be given to Squadrons that are in a Port when the area or all areas adjacent to the Port contain opposing Forces. Squadrons to be ordered to be leaving port in such a situation must be given Sortie orders and may only move into an adjacent sea area, regardless of their movement allowance amounts. Squadrons with Sortie orders are not required to have coal orders in the following turn. They may only be given Patrol, Raid, or Transit orders for that following turn.

5.7 Transit: Transiting units move normally using their full movement allowance, either as single Independent units or as a stack which is considered to be a Squadron.

Transiting Independent units, that is single units, not units in a Squadron stack containing at least 2 units that may or may not also contain a leader, do not require a Transit order marker, may Š2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898

not have combat and do not roll on the Orders Matrix if ending a turn in the same area as an opposing Squadron. In the following turn such Independent units may remain in with Transit orders or they must enter a friendly Port. They may not end their movement in their starting area. Transiting units that are in a Squadron may have combat and must use the Search Matrix when ending a turn in the same area as an opposing Squadron. Note again that individual Independent units that are not stacked with another unit or units do not require an orders marker, but are always considered to have Transit orders. Squadrons with Transit orders for a turn must be given Anchor or Coal or another Transit order for the next turn. However, no Squadron or Independent Unit may have Transit orders for more than 2 consecutive turns. Markers are supplied to be used to indicate if a second turn of Transit Orders have been used.

Ports require one movement point to be entered. A stack of units that is being moved together as a Squadron may not be moved further than the movement ability of its slowest (lowest movement point) member if it is to remain together as a stack. Movement allowance points may not be conserved if not used and start again at full value at the beginning of the player’s movement phase.

In DAWN OF EMPIRE, again unlike other games in the WAR AT SEA family, units remain in the Port or area where they finished their movement for the turn. They do not automatically return to a friendly Port at the end of the turn. Additionally, movement must stop when entering an area if that area contains opposing Squadron(s) which have Patrol or Blockade orders. Areas with opposing Forces that do not contain such orders may be passed through if the owning player so desires. If the opposing player has units with such orders in an area entered by the moving player, the opposing player must so indicate so as to stop the movement of those units of the moving player.

6.0 Movement 6.1a Areas and Ports: The map is divided into 17 sea areas with borders through the oceans to indicate their limits, along with adjacent land zones as limits. Ports exist on the land zones of some sea areas. Forces may only enter land area when entering a Port.

All units representing player Forces have a movement allowance.

This number is used in relation to movement by the entry into areas as a counter is moved in a turn. Different areas require different numbers of movement points to be entered. Note that this is not like other games in the WAR AT SEA family of games where the movement cost to enter an area is the same for all areas.

The start of movement is always from the starting location of a unit to an adjacent sea area or to a port or from a Port to an adjacent sea area as the first move. Movement thereafter is through a sequence of adjacent areas and/or Ports, paying the movement cost of each to enter, up to the maximum movement allowance for the unit. Note that most Ports are only adjacent to one sea area, and movement from the Port must begin into that adjacent sea area.

Two Ports, however, are adjacent to two areas. Cádiz is adjacent to the North Atlantic and the Middle Atlantic. Forces ported there may enter either of these sea areas as their first move. Canary Islands is adjacent to the Middle Atlantic and the South Atlantic, and may move to either of those areas.

Note that although Ports have values for attack, defense, etc., they are considered as markers, not units, and are never required to be given orders and are never able to move.

Most areas require the expense of a single movement point to be entered, however, all three Atlantic Ocean areas require expending 3 movement points to be entered while the 4 areas representing straits and passages each require 2 movement points to be entered.

6.1b Neutral Ports: There are five neutral Ports and units of either side may use them. They will not, however, be able to provide repair for damaged units. The neutral Ports are Kingston, Cartagena, Curaçao, Caracas, and Martinique.

Additionally, during the next Orders phase the units must be ordered to Anchor and during the following turn must leave the port during the Movement Phase or they are considered to have been interned for the duration of the war. Interned units are removed from play for the rest of the game at the end of the Movement Phase in which they did not move from the neutral Port. They do not count toward victory points for either side. Additionally, units that start movement in a neutral Port may not end movement for that phase in a neutral Port. Neutral Ports may never be subjected to actions by units with raid or blockade orders.

6.2 Squadrons: Squadrons represent coordinating command structures for units. Any stack of friendly units with 2 or more units is considered a Squadron. Leaders are not counted toward this total and leaders will have no effect unless they are placed on a stack that counts as a Squadron, though leaders may be moved with individual units. Leaders may not be moved on their own without any unit, so must be stacked either with a Squadron or with an Independent Unit to be moved. Squadrons do not require leaders to move or engage in combat, however a leader stacked with a Squadron will affect the combat ability of that Squadron.

Only Squadrons may be given orders other than Transit. Individual units not in a stack are automatically considered to have Transit orders and are considered to be Independent Units (6.3). As such they will not be able to engage in combat or earn victory points.

Whenever two or more friendly Squadrons end their movement in a single area or the same Port, they are automatically combined to become a single stack and a single Squadron.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898 If two combining stacks are the same size, then the owning player decides which of the orders for the previously separate Squadrons is retained as the ongoing orders for the new combined Squadron for the remainder of the turn. Otherwise, the order of the larger Squadron is retained and the other order is removed.

If the Squadrons have the same number of units, the order of the Squadron with a leader is retained. If both have leaders, the squadron with the leader with the most stars of rank retains its orders for the new combined squadron. If none of these conditions apply, flip a coin to see which orders are retained.

Moving Squadrons may drop off units in areas they move through.

If a single unit is dropped, it is considered to have transit orders.

If more than one unit is dropped, the new Squadron has the same orders as its original. If there is any remaining movement allowance, both the new Squadron and the remainder of the original Squadron may continue to move independently of each other.

6.3 Independent Units: A unit that is not stacked with another friendly unit is considered to be an Independent Unit. Such single units may still be deployed, that is moved to sea or into a Port, but do so as Independent Units and are always considered to have Transit orders if they are moved, or Anchor orders if they remain in port or unmoved in a sea area, but they do not need to have an order marker placed on them to indicate this. They are never required to stop movement when entering areas containing opposing Forces. They may not engage in combat in any way. Independent units may never enter an opposing Port. When an Independent Unit enters an area or Port containing other friendly units, that Independent Unit may be stacked with those other friendly units to become part of that Squadron or may remain a separate unit to continue with transit orders in a following turn. But this stacking must occur on entry to the area. Any unit that is not stacked with other friendly units at the start of a movement phase is considered independent and remains so until moving into an area with friendly units and then moving into a Squadron stack in such an area. If Independent units end movement in the same area, they combine into a Squadron with Transit orders, but if there are no such order markers remaining available, they may not combine and may not be considered for control of the area.

6.4 Reinforcements: Prior to movement for either player, reinforcements are taken. Only the United States player gets reinforcements. A number of units, in addition to having letters to indicate their initial deployment location for the start of the game, also have a number such as 3 or 6. This indicates they are a reinforcement that arrives on turn 3 or turn 6. On their entry turn during the New Forces Phase, they are placed in the Port location indicated by the normal start location letters and start their movement for that turn from that location.

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deal of coal due to their orders of the previous turn are required to coal in the current turn. The Orders rules (5.0) indicate which specific orders must be followed by a coal order. Coaling may be ordered in a friendly Port, where there is no limit on the number of units that may be coaled for the turn, or in a neutral Port, where no more than 3 units of each player may be coaled in a turn, or in one or more sea areas, where the United States player may coal a maximum of 11 units for the turn, regardless of the number of areas involved, and the Spanish player may coal a maximum of 8 units per turn. Units that will not fit under these limits must be separated from those being coaled into separate stacks and given other orders besides coal such as anchor, which will also have the effect of producing refueling operations.

6.6 Sea Control: At the start of some turns one or more sea areas may have a Sea Control maker of one of the players as a result of actions in a prior turn. When entering an area with such a marker from the opposing player, a moving Squadron must halt its movement for that turn in the area containing the marker. Independent units are not required to stop movement in this manner and may enter or leave such an area while continuing movement.

7.0 Combat 7.1 Determining Initiative: After all movement is completed, the Combat Phase begins. It is possible for combat to occur in any area which contains the Squadrons of both players, whether at sea in the area and/or in a Port that borders the area. To determine if combat will occur, the player with the initiative must be determined in each area. If the Squadrons of one player are only in Port in an area and the Squadrons of the other player are at sea in the same area, the player with the Squadrons at sea always has the initiative for that area. If both players have Squadrons at sea in the area, regardless of whether either also has Squadrons in a Port in the area, count the number of units in the area for each player. Then add the number of stars rating for each player’s highest rated leader in the area and add that to the unit total for that player. Finally, each player rolls a single die and adds that result to their total. The player with the higher number is considered to be the player with the initiative for that area. In case of ties, the United States player has the initiative.

The sequence of resolution for combat for areas does not matter so combat can be resolved in any order. Combat resolution for each required area should be completed before starting resolution for another area. Independent units never take part in any aspect of combat, including initiative and search.

6.5 Coaling: Movement in DAWN OF EMPIRE must reflect coaling as a limitation on ship movement. (Note: This is another rule 7.2 Search Resolution: After initiative is determined for an area, that is unlike the rule in any other games of the a search for that area must be resolved using the Search Matrix WAR AT SEA family,) To reflect this units that have used a good Chart. This is done by comparing the orders for the opposing Š2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898 Sea Area Name (Florida Straits)

Sea Area Boundary

Port Marker

Sea Area VP Values

Mine Value

(1 for US control, 2 for Spanish)

Abbreviation

Sea Area Entry Cost (2 movement points)

Port Name

Port Abbreviation

(CE)

Movement

Port Name (Cienfuegos)

Defense Strength

(1 point of damage repair per turn)

Attack Strength

Port Repair Value

Squadrons in the area. The order for the player with the initiative is used to find a column on the chart. The order for the player without the initiative is used to determine the row of the chart.

Cross index the column and the row to find an instruction. There are three possible result types: 7.21 No Result. This is listed as an N/A instruction and indicates the Forces in the area have not engaged in a combat and nothing happens. There is no further action and combat for that area is concluded, with play moving to resolve the next area or, if all areas have been resolved, to determining victory points for the turn.

7.22 VP Event. This result indicates that the player with the initiative immediately scores victory points as indicated in the Victory Point rules, but no ship combat occurs (port combat does occur if required by orders such as Blockade) and the result is otherwise considered an N/A, and again play moves to the next area to be resolved or to the Area Control & Victory Point Phase.

7.23 Engagement Roll. This result indicates a range of numbers.

The player with the initiative then rolls a die and if the result is in the range indicated, the Squadrons in the area have come into engagement and play for the area moves to combat resolution. If the roll is outside the range, it is treated the same as an No Result.

7.24 Independents In Port. Independent units that remain in a port for the turn are considered to have had Transit orders, but for some reason not been able to sail. In all other ways, they still count as if with Transit orders.

round is concluded.

7.31 Battle Lines: To resolve combat for the Battle Lines of opposing Squadrons, each player lines up their units using the top to bottom of the stack from the area involved in the combat. Units are lined up counter to counter. If there is overlap, that is one side has more units than the other side, the side with the greater number of units may start overmatching the side with the lesser number, starting at the beginning of the line as indicated by the top unit of the Squadron. Over-matched units must be placed one extra unit against each opposing unit, starting from the beginning of the opposing line, until all extra units are placed. If there is more than one level of overlap, repeat it in the same way until all units are placed.

EXAMPLE: Nine units in a Squadron against fourteen units from an opposing Squadron. Line up the nine units as a single battle line, starting with the top unit in the stack and continuing to the bottom unit of the stack. The opposing player lines up the first nine units of the opposing Squadron stack, one against each of the other line, first against first, second against second, and so on. There will be five units left over. The tenth unit is doubled up against the first unit of the opposing line. The eleventh is doubled up against the second of the opposing line. The twelfth is doubled up against the third of the opposing line. The thirteenth is doubled up against the fourth of the opposing line, and the fourteenth is doubled up against the fifth. Now combat may be resolved for this battle.

7.32: Results: Once the Battle Lines have been set up, a round of gunfire combat begins. Each player rolls a number of dice for each unit equal to the attack factor of that unit against the opposing 7.3 Combat Resolution: The combat of Squadrons that have had a opposite unit. In instances where attackers are doubled up (or successful die roll on the Search Matrix Chart is done as a series of more) against an opposing unit due to overlap, the total of the combats in each area resolving one area at a time. Once a combat attack factors for the units is used. In all instances, the defender is round for an area begins, the results are considered simultaneous, the front (not a doubled up) unit. If a die result is a 6, that is a hit with each player being the attacker and each the defender one time and damage will be rolled for each 6 result against each target unit. to complete the round, and with no results applied until after that If the result is a 5, that is a disabled result, and that unit will drop out of the Battle Line and may not participate in further combat Š2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898

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that turn.

doubled overlap at the center of the opposing line.

Disabled units are sent back to the nearest (by movement points) friendly Port immediately after finishing the combat resolution round, regardless of their damage level (or the nearest Neutral Port if using Optional Rule 11.I) If more than one port is equally distant, the port moved to is at the option of the owning player. Disabled units are considered to have had Anchor orders for purposes of the orders for the next turn and the Disabled marker is then removed.

7.4 Leaders: Each player has a number of leader markers. Each leader must be placed with a unit or stack of units to be moved. If the Squadron a leader is with engages in battle line combat, the leader is considered to be on board the first vessel in the battle line when set up for combat. The one active leader for a stack, if there is more than one present, is the one placed at the top of the stack and it must be the one with the most stars on its counter, representing its command rate. Other leaders in the stack will not have any effect. If there is more than one leader of the same rating, the one on top is the one in use.

Roll again for each 6 hit and the result of the roll is the number of damage points taken by the target, including for any units which received both hit and disabled results. Put damage markers on each damaged unit to represent the amount of damage taken.

Similarly mark each disabled unit with a disabled marker for return to a friendly Port at the end of the current round of combat.

Units that accumulate damage greater than their defense value are sunk and should be noted to be removed at the end of the current round of combat. However, for each round of gunfire combat, no results take effect until after all units have fired and results from their firing have been assigned. At that point the round ends and players determine if disengagement by gunfire has occurred. If it does, the battle is ended. If not, another round of gunfire combat is conducted. This continues until either one side disengages, or no Battle Line units for one side remain. In either case, the side with remaining units or that did not disengage wins the battle.

Once you are in combat, as the results are considered simultaneous, each player takes a round of being the attacker and the defender.

7.33: Damage: Undamaged units and damaged units that have not been disabled must continue to fight in ensuing rounds of battle; however they do so with modification of their unit values due to their damage.

Leaders will add dice equal to their command rate to the combat.

They must add one die to each unit starting with the lead unit in the line that they are placed with for the combat and continuing down the combat line until all the command rate is used up. Hence, if a battle line has 6 units and the leader has a rating of 3 stars, one extra die will be rolled for each of the first 3 units in the battle line, but no extras for the rest. Finally, whenever a unit with a leader is involved in a combat resolution, at the end of each combat resolution for the unit, roll a single die for each that leader. If the unit the leader was on was not sunk but was damaged during the combat, on a result of 6 the leader is killed in combat and removed from play immediately. If the unit the leader was on was sunk, the leader is automatically considered to have been killed and is removed from play immediately. In any further combat resolution rounds the leader rating has no further effect. If the unit the leader was on is disabled, the leader must leave the combat area with that unit and is not counted in further rounds of combat resolution in that area for that turn.

7.5 Port Attack Resolution: The marker for each Port has on it values for attack and defense, as well as always having a zero for its movement ability. Additionally, some Ports have a + indicated number for their mine value. When opposing Squadrons have Raid or Blockade orders, if they are still in the area after any other combat has concluded for the turn, they must make a Port Attack.

Each point of damage reduces a unit’s movement and attack values by one point for subsequent rounds of combat and for later movement requirements. However, no unit may be reduced to less than a two movement allowance and one attack value point remaining. Set aside sunk units for the Area Control & Victory Units with Blockade orders must have a combat with the Port Point Phase. marker using its attack and defense values. Units with Raid orders

must have a combat with the Port marker using its mine and 7.34: Reforming Battle Lines: To form new opposing Battle defense values.

Lines after a round of combat, first remove any damaged units and place them at the end of the line, in the order of least number This combat is resolved in the normal manner except for the of damage points to most number of damage points, that is, the following: unit with the least damage right after the last undamaged unit. In When engaging units that have Blockade orders the Port instances of the same damage, the owning player may pick the only attacks the odd numbered units in the opposing Squadron order of those units with the same damage total. Then simply close stack, that is the 1st unit, the 3rd unit, etc. All of the attacking units the order for the remaining units after those sunk or disabled have do, however, engage, and the combat is resolved as a sequence, so been removed, thus maintaining the same line of battle sequence, the Port and the first unit resolve against each other simultaneously and then re-determine any new resulting overlap. Damaged units and then the next unit engages the Port and then the 3rd unit and may not overlap from the front of the opposing line, but instead the Port engage simultaneously, etc. For resolving the Port against overlap from the end of the opposing line. Thus, in the case of a a Squadron with Raid orders the same system is used except the heavily outnumbered opponent, it is possible that undamaged units Port only engages every third unit, so the 1st, then the 4th, then the might overlap the front of the opposing line while damaged units 7th, etc. Note that any at Anchor units in a port are not at any time overlap the back of the opposing line, potentially producing even a considered to be engaged for purposes of Blockade or Raid combat Š2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898

resolution. They simply remain at anchor in the port. There is only one round of combat in a Port Attack Resolution.

If the Port is destroyed by an attacking unit, that is its defense value is exceeded by one or more results, the attack ends and the attacking player earns Victory Points for the destruction of the port. Flip the port marker to its Disrupted side. If not, combat continues against the remaining units in the Squadron until all able to have engaged. If the Port is still not destroyed, the player with the initiative may not initiate a second round of combat and the blockade or raid is not considered to have succeeded for victory points. As a further difference from normal combat, both hit and disabled results (5 & 6) on a Port (but not the ships of the attacking Squadron) are counted and rolled for damage. Disabled (die roll 5) results have no additional disabling effect.

When combat ends, if the initiative Forces have remaining units but the Port has been destroyed, that is, its defense value has been exceeded by damage taken, 3 victory points plus the defense value of the Port will immediately be earned by the initiative player. If not, the attack has failed, regardless of the amount of damage to the Port. After combat ends if the Port has been damaged, turns its marker over to its Disrupted side. A Disrupted port is still available as a report, but may not provide repair for friendly units for the current turn. At the start of the next turn during New Forces & Orders Phase, any damage markers taken by the Port are removed and the marker is turned back right side up at full strength.

as required.

9.0 Area Control and Victory Points

9.1 Area Control: To be considered to control a sea area during Area Control and Victory Points Phase, the player must achieve one of the following conditions: A) Be the only player with a Squadron remaining in the area, B) If a Squadron of only one player remains, but Independent Units of the opposing player also remain in an area, the area is controlled by the player with the Squadron, C) If Squadrons of more than one player are in the same area but never find each other due to Search Matrix results or remain in the area after battle concludes in the area for the turn, the area reverts to uncontrolled at the end of the turn, D) If only Independent Units for either or both players remain in the area at the end of the turn, the area is considered to be uncontrolled E) If Forces of one player in an area have disengaged by any method, or an entire Squadron of one player in the area has been removed due to loss or disablement, that player cannot be considered in determining control for that area.

8.0 Disengagement

8.1 By Gunfire Resolution: This form of disengagement is involuntary, and occurs to the loser of a battle. If all of the units of the Battle Line of a Squadron have been either sunk or sent back to Port as disabled, then disengagement by gunfire has occurred.

No further combat rounds are played for that battle. Note that this disengagement may not occur in the middle of the resolution of a round of gunfire combat, but only after all involved units have fired and all damage has been assessed. Also note that it is very possible for a unit to be both damaged and disabled, hence being forced out of the battle and back to Port with damage.

8.2 By Speed: The Squadrons of either side may disengage by speed before the start of a battle if all of their units involved are faster than all of the units of the opposing Squadron. Otherwise disengagement by speed may occur only after each round of a battle is concluded if units of one side are faster than all units of its opponents. To determine this, compare the speed of the opposing units. Any units that have a higher movement allowance, including any effects from damage, than all of the opposing units involved in the battle, may disengage by speed and are returned to a friendly or neutral Port. Forces that do not have a speed advantage may not disengaged by speed and remain in the area to fight battle rounds

In all cases at least two units (damaged or undamaged) of a Squadron of a player must be present to control the sea area. A single unit with or without a leader cannot be used to control areas.

In most instances the winner of a battle in an area will end up being the winner of control for that area. Squadrons with Transit orders may never control an area, regardless of the number of units in a Squadron, or prevent an opposing squadron from establishing control in the area.

However, it is possible that some areas will be uncontrolled at the end of the combat phase or a turn due to no Forces having been moved to the area or all Forces having been removed, in which case no control marker is placed in such an area. Finally, if no Forces of sufficient type and quantity are present, then that area is considered uncontrolled.

9.2 Area Victory Points: The sea areas controlled by each player after the conclusion of the Combat Phase determine the number of victory points won by each player for area control. This represents the ability to bombard undefended coastal locations and interdict maritime traffic in the area. There are two numbers under the name of each area, one to the left and one to the right. The number on the left is the total the United States player earns for controlling the area. The number to the right is the total the Spanish player

Š2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898 earns for controlling the area. During the Area Control and Victory Points Phase the United States player counts points first and moves the Victory Point markers on the Victory Point Track to reflect the addition of the United States total. Next the Spanish player counts victory points for controlled areas and again moves the Victory Point markers, but this time toward the Spanish side of the Victory Point Track. Note that uncontrolled areas do not earn victory points for either player. Note that some areas have zero control points for one or both players and as such controlling them has no victory point effect. All areas that award victory points for control do so every turn that they are controlled.

9.3 Losses Victory Points: Victory points are earned for destroying opposing units. (Note: This is also different than in many other games of the WAR AT SEA family.) During the Area Control and Victory Points Phase after completing the calculation of victory points for Area Control, next count and mark on the Victory Point Track amounts for opposing units sunk during the turn just completed. For each opposing BB type unit sunk, count two victory points. For each opposing CA or MO type unit sunk, count 1 victory point. For each CP or CU or GB type unit sunk, count 1/2 victory point, with any fractions dropped. For each leader killed the opposing player earns victory points equal to the star value of the leader. Injured leaders do not earn any victory points.

9.4 Orders Victory Points: When a player with the initiative has Raid or Blockade orders and their attack on a Port is successful in destroying that Port, the initiative player immediately earns 3 victory points plus the defense value for each such Port. As per the rules on Ports, they rebuild and the same Port can then be attacked again in subsequent turns and will again earn the initiative player victory points if the Port is destroyed another time. Additionally, if during a combat phase the initiative player has a Squadron with Blockade orders while an opposing Squadron in the same area or a Port adjoining that area has Coal orders, the blockading initiative player immediately earns 2 victory points. The player with Coal orders is considered to have coaled as per the order, but was prevented from doing so in a timely manner and thus unable to otherwise be ready that turn.

9.5 Victory: The total from the Victory Point Track at the end of the last turn of the game determines which player wins. If the total is six or more points to the United States side, the United States player wins. If the total is six or more points to the Spanish side, the Spanish player wins. If the total is five or less to either side, the game is a draw.

9.6 Set Up: The Spanish player should sit to the West side of the map while the United States player should sit on the opposite side, looking in from the continental US and Gulf of Mexico.

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units, Port, & leader counters that do not have a number start the game on the map in their letter indicated location. HR is Hampton Roads, MB is Mobile, KW is Key West, EC is East Coast sea area, CI is Canary Islands, CZ is CĂĄdiz, HV is Havana, SJ is San Juan, SA is Santiago, and CE Cienfuegos.

Units and markers placed on the map are also placed face down, to conceal their identity from the opposing player, except for Port markers, which are always face up. Units and markers are always kept face down throughout the game except when they are turned face up to resolve combat or when the owning player wishes to examine their own units.

Each player has a number of markers with orders for Squadrons.

Place these in a pile off the map next to the owning player, and place them face down so they can be examined by the owning player when picking orders for Squadrons, but will not be visible to the opposing player so that the opposition does not know the orders picked for each Squadron.

Finally, the Game Turn marker is placed on turn one of the Game Turn Record Track, the Victory Point x1 & x10 markers are placed on the zero box of the Victory Point Track. All squadrons are considered to have had Anchor orders for the turn before the start of the game except for the Squadron in the East Coast area, which is considered to have had Patrol orders. Note that all areas of the map start the game uncontrolled so no control markers are placed at the start.

10.0 Damage Repair

Damage points assigned to units may be repaired to some extent and over time. Each player has a repair capability number printed on the map for each of their Ports. This number is the maximum total number of damage points that Port may remove from units that are in that Port during the Damage Repair Phase. Players simply remove damage from units of their choice in each such Port up to the indicated point limit. For example, if there are three units, each with two damage, in a Port with a capability of four, then two units may be fully repaired and one left with two damage; or two may receive one repair and one receive two repairs, etc.

The owning player may repair all of the damage of a particular unit or only part of a unit’s damage. Damage to a unit may have occurred due to combat or because of the optional Maintenance rule. There is no difference between the two causes of damage in any way from a repair standpoint. Note that the recovery of a Port marker happens during the New Forces & Orders phase and consumes all of the available repair points for that Port for the turn prior to the recovery, which was indicated by the Port marker having been turned over to its Disabled side but in the next turn being flipped back to its front full use side. While on its Disabled side the port cannot provide damage repair, though units may still move into and out of the port.

Many counters start the game on the map. Each unit, leader, and Port marker has a double letter designator in the upper right corner of the front of the counter. This two letter designator indicates the starting position for the counter. If there is a number just to the left of the letters, that is the turn in which the unit will be a reinforcement. Thus a 3 indicates the unit will be a reinforcement in turn 3. Such units are put aside until the start of that turn. All Š2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898

11.0 Optional Rules These rules are extras that complicate or alter play, but can make the game somewhat more historically reflective or easier to play solo. They may be used individually or in combinations as agreed to by both players before the start of play. Additionally, some of the rules will obviously advantage one side or the other, so they may be added to balance out unequal players and make for a better game.

11.A Extra Time: Though the naval war in effect ended with the battle results from Santiago Bay in early July of 1898, without that event the war could have continued. At the agreement of both players prior to the start of play of the first turn, the game may be extended to seven, eight, or nine turns. These additional turns are played in the exact same way as prior turns.

11.B Alternate Delayed Repair: For simplicity, repair is assumed to have occurred sometime during the ongoing turn, since events of the turn would have occurred over a long time period. However, players may want to delay repair to reflect long term problems and complicate the game slightly. To try this, only units that have remained in the repairing Port for the entire turn may be repaired during the Repair Phase for the current turn. Additionally, instead of automatically returning damaged and destroyed ports to full use during the New Forces & Orders Phase, ports retain their damage markers and must repair themselves with their repair capability prior to being flipped to their full use side and being then able to again repair ship units. All damage done during a Raid or Blockade resolution is retained, so even if there is excess to what is needed to destroy the port, that excess must be repaired away also before the port is flipped to its front side from its back ‘Disrupted’ side and back in action to provide repairs for ships. Such ports may still be used as ports in all other respects.

11.C Maintenance: Maintenance damage, that is, damage as a result of inadequate upkeep on the very complex machinery of modern warships, was a common problem throughout the war for all participants, but worse for some than for others.

To represent this, the United States player must, for turns 2-5, assign one damage point per turn to a United States BB and/or MO type units, and two damage points per turn to some combination of United States CA, CP, and/or CU types units. For all other turns of the game the United States player must assign one damage point per turn to a United States BB type unit and one per turn to some combination of United States CP and/or GB type units. The Spanish player must assign four damage points per turn, regardless of turn number, to be allocated to some combination of Spanish BB, CA, CP, and/or CU type units.

Maintenance damage is assigned last, after normal repairs, and thus may not be repaired in the turn in which it is assigned.

Additionally, the same units may not be assigned upkeep damage two turns in a row. Note down the names of units assigned such damage each turn to keep track of which units become ineligible or place an unused marker under them as an indicator. Further, when using this rule, units with damage of ½ or more of their defense strength may not leave Port. Round down for Spanish units and up for United States units. Note this rule will may not be used in conjunction with rule 11.C Alternate Delayed Repair. If using the 11.C optional rule, rule 10 must be used and 11.D must be ignored.

11.D Bidding: Both players may wish to play the same side due to a perception of an advantage for that side. Should that happen, before determining which player will play which side, both players should secretly note on a sheet of paper how many victory points they will bid to play the desired side. After this is done, both players reveal their bids, and the player with the higher bid plays the side of their choice, with the other player taking the other side. However, the bid losing player is granted a starting victory point level before the game begins equal to the number bid by the winning player. In event of a tie, flip a coin with the winner picking a side first and no extra victory points earned.

11.E Handicapping: If players are of unequal skill or experience in play or with the game, play may be balanced by giving to the weaker player a starting number of victory points as a handicap.

Determining the level of a handicap is always difficult, but an attempt should be made to reflect the differences between the players and any optional rules in use as fairly as possible.

Additionally, some players may, after playing the game a number of times, discern what they consider to be an imbalance toward one side or the other. Should this occur, simply modify the starting level of the side perceived to be at a disadvantage to start the game with a number of victory points, rather than starting at zero, that reflects what is considered by the players to compensate for their view of the imbalance.

11.F Fog Of War: DAWN OF EMPIRE in its standard rules is oriented toward the fog of war aspects of naval campaigns. (Note: This is similar to GRAND FLEET and SETTING SUN, RISING SUN more than the earlier games of the WAR AT SEA family.). If players wish to reduce this fog of war aspect, instead of playing the game with unit and maker counters face down until the stage of laying out units to resolve combats, to disguise the contents and identity of Forces, players may simply play with counters face up and subject to examination by the opposing player at any time.

This reduces considerably the historical uncertainty of the situation of the naval aspects of the Spanish-American War, but it also makes the game much more chess like by allowing additional precalculation of potential combats. The only exception if reducing Fog of War with this optional rule should be orders markers, which still should remain undisclosed until a situation occurs which requires them to be exposed to determine an outcome.

11.G Automatic Victory: In the standard game, victory is only determined at the end of the last (6th, 7th, 8th, or 9th) turn. However, to increase tension, automatic victory may be used. Automatic ©2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898 victory occurs at the end of any turn when a player has a score of 29 or more, thus ending the game before the end of the last turn.

11.H Restricting Disabled Units: In the standard rules for the WAR AT SEA family of games, a disabled result is to some degree a ‘get out of jail free’ card, as it sends both damaged and undamaged units to a home Port without consideration of damage or distance at the conclusion of the combat round in which they were disabled. In DAWN OF EMPIRE, this is perhaps more historically reflective than in the other games, as a unit forced out of the battle line due to damage or other events might then proceed back to Port independently, even as the battle continued, and this happened a number of times. However, if players wish to make this more realistic, any existing damage should be considered, and if as a result the unit cannot make the distance to the nearest Port, it should be considered lost due to scuttling. To make this work best, players should also alter the lowest value that movement can be restricted to due to damage to be one, rather than two, and may not round movement down to zero.

11.I Speed Defined Subgroups: When disengaged by speed all units faster than the opposing highest speed succeed in disengaging, but those slower all remain for another round of combat for simplicity of resolution. What would actually happen is that a number of subgroups would be formed due to speed differences and then the pursuing commander would have to decide if he would engage only the slowest of those groups or if he would split his forces to try to catch some or all of the other speed separated opposition. To represent this, the disengaged side is split into separate subgroups by speed when it disengages. The pursuing player may then split his forces to engage, also restricted by speed ability, and decide which of his forces to leave with which disengaging subgroup.

He is not required to send all of his faster units against all of the opposing faster subgroups, and may have all of his units fight the slowest or the two slowest opposing subgroups, within his unit’s movement abilities limitations, or split them into two or more subgroups to pursue each opposing subgroup. However only one additional round of combat is fought in this manner and at its conclusion the disengagement of all surviving forces is considered to have occurred. Control of the area will belong to the player that won the initial round of combat and forced the other player to disengage, regardless of the later results of the combat round of the speed defined subgroups.

11.J Extra Warships: There were a few more warships that the Spanish could have sent along and the Americans had a few more also. The counters for these have a “*” next to the position for their location / arrival. To give the Spanish a bit of additional weight, add these units to those that are available at the start of the game while adding the extra US unit that has a “*” next to its position on turn 3 at Key West.

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player desires. Additionally, a single squadron of up to six units with no more than one leader may be placed in any sea area that boarders coastline of the United States. This squadron must have Patrol orders as if from a turn prior to the start of the game. The Spanish player sets up second and must start all units and leaders in Spanish friendly ports but no units or leaders may start in a sea area, they must all be in port. Reinforcement units still must enter at the port location indicated on their counters.

11.l The Germans: There was a remote chance that German naval units in the Caribbean might have been ordered to come to the aid of Spain against the United States. To play this option, there are counters for the 4 German naval units in the sea. They have a gray center background.

Additionally, there is one leader for these units. If playing this option, all 4 units and their leader are available at from the start of the game and act entirely as Spanish units controlled by the Spanish player. They start the game deployed in Caracas which is considered to have a repair value of 1 but only for use in the repair of German units. Caracas is otherwise considered Neutral and may not be blockaded or raided.

12.0 Design Notes

I do not usually dedicate games, but I would like to dedicate this one to the memory of Terry Stibal, whose huge interest in this topic got me looking into the idea of a game on it in the first place.

Despite this, I had pretty much decided not to do this game. Then along came Bill Thomas when the topic was being discussed on ConSimWorld in the folder for SETTING SUN, RISING SUN, a game on the Russo Japanese War that I had done and that Bill had published in Compass Game’s Paper Wars magazine. He convinced me I should give it a try and urged that I keep in mind solo play, of which he is a big fan. The game you have in your hands is the result.

As with my prior extension of the War At Sea family of design concepts to cover the Age Of Sail, this design pushes the basic ideas a good deal. Fuel considerations were, at this point in naval history, hugely important and the logistics of keeping fleets going with constant supplies of coal had not yet been fully worked out.

Half a dozen years later in the Russo-Japanese War, a lot of these kinks were gone and coaling was much less of a constraint. By the time of the Great War, another decade on, all of the major powers had solved the logistics involved and systems were in place to make keeping fueled a much less central consideration.

11.K Free Deployment: Players wishing to try their own starting Additionally, Spanish-American War era fleets had gotten smaller locations for their units and leaders may try this option. Ignore as the Age of Sail closed, but had not yet really started their growth all of the counter indicated deployment indicators. The United into the huge groupings of warships that would typify the First States player places all of their starting forces first. They may World War. As a result, searching for and, after finding, coming be placed in any United States port in any quantities per port the ©2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898

to grips with opposing squadrons or warships was not yet as systematized or reliable as it would become heading into the Great War. Two reflect these two really large breaks with the general concepts of the War At Sea family ideas, new systems had to be developed.

Specifically, these are the Orders systems and the iterations of those orders with search and then engagement. Both of these new structures take some getting used to. In effect, they produce a form of sequencing where the players must think well ahead, turn wise, to make sure they have the maximum possible force of units in the right places at the right times and with the right orders to have the best chance of both finding and then fighting the opposing forces.

None of this is intuitive and it requires experiment and practice.

Finally, a word or two on strategy. In the historical events, the US Navy simply wiped the Spanish forces off the map. The reasons for this are varied, but they were no certainty. On paper, the Spanish looked to be a serious threat. And from a strategic standpoint, they could have been. A huge concern for the US command was the vulnerability of the Eastern seaboard of the nation to raid, particularly considering the fairly light defensive infrastructure of the two main naval bases at Key West and Hampton Roads.

The Spanish never forced the US to do more than be concerned, however, and this was a serious strategic error on their parts. In the game the Spanish player is fully able to correct this, and the US player must be on guard for it. Additionally, in the Caribbean, the Spanish did very little to attempt to consolidate their forces at sea, instead concentrating in ports. This enabled the US Navy to maintain loose blockades by rotating watchers and, when a sortie did happen, to apply full force. In the game, the Spanish player need not be so cooperative in their own destruction.

Stephen Newberg North Oyster, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

The Example of Play has been composed to display the rules rather than suggest useful strategic or tactical actions. Remember that units and leaders are deployed inverted so that the opposing player is unaware of the identity of opponents until potentials for combat must be resolved in the Combat Phase, and orders are also placed on Squadrons inverted and not disclosed until the Movement Phase.

TURN 1.

Setup is done as from rule 9.6 as, for the first turn, all units are, in effect, New Units. The only optional rule in play is 11.J, Extra Warships, which are also deployed to their indicated starting locations as per rule 9.6.

In Key West, the only starting location with two leaders and so able to form two Squadrons that each have a leader, Sampson forms the North Atlantic Squadron with the Indiana, Iowa, Wilmington, Helena, Nashville, & Detroit. Watson forms the Eastern Squadron

13.0 Credits:

Design & Development: Stephen Newberg.

Additional Spanish & German Research Assistance: Jose Rivero.

Rules Editing: Brian Clemens.

Play Testing: Kerry Anderson, Jim Conroy, Michael Junkin, Paul Smith, Ian Weir, Mark Woloshen & The W.I.T. Group (they may be getting older, but they are also getting better!).

Graphics: Nadir Elfarra

14.0 Detailed Example Of Play:

This example of play will cover all actions for the first two turns of a game to give an idea of the flow of the game by demonstrating the rules. Please note that this is not an indication of game strategy. Š2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898 with the New York, Cincinnati, Machias, Castine, & Marblehead.

A third Squadron without a leader is formed in Key West with the Annapolis, Vicksburg, & Newport.

All Squadrons are set up stacked with the most powerful units at the top (front end of the line for combat), grading down through the stack to the least powerful of the stack, and with any leader in the Squadron on the lead vessel.

Spanish Orders: Cámara’s 1st Cádiz Squadron located in Cádiz is given Raid orders.

Cervera’s 2nd Cádiz Squadron located in the Canary Islands is given Anchor orders. Manterola La’s Havana Squadron starting in Havana is given Transit orders. In Cádiz, Lepanto, Alfonso XIII, Asturias, & Carlos V are removed from Cámara’s Squadron and stacked as a separate Squadron without a leader and given Transit orders.

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United States Orders: Schley with the Flying Squadron located in Hampton Roads is given Transit orders with the Massachusetts, Brooklyn, New Orleans, Minneapolis, & Columbia. A separate Squadron without a leader is formed in Hampton Roads with the Texas and Montgomery and is given Transit orders. The monitor Maintonomoh remains in Hampton Roads without orders. Howell, with the Northern Patrol Squadron in the East Coast sea area is given Anchor orders. Sampson in Key West with the North Atlantic Squadron is given Patrol orders for the Indiana, Iowa, Wilmington, Helena, Nashville, & Detroit. Watson, with the Eastern Squadron, is also in Key West with the New York, Cincinnati, Machias, Castine, & Marblehead is ordered to Anchor. The third Squadron in Key West with the Annapolis, Vicksburg, & Newport is given Transit orders.

The monitors Terror, Amphitrite, & Puritan are ordered to Anchor in Key West.

Spanish Movement: Cámara’s Squadron raids through the North Atlantic and into

Turn 1 Positions and Orders Note: counters shown face-up for clarity

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898

the East Coast sea area. The Lepanto, Alfonso XIII, Asturias, & Carlos V as a Squadron transit through the Middle Atlantic and into the Canary Islands. Manterola with Ensenada & I. Isabel transits through the Gulf of Mexico into Yucatan Straits and then ends movement in the North Yucatan Basin sea area. Venadito & Alphonso XII anchor in Havana while Cervera anchors his Squadron in the Canary Islands.

United States Movement: Howell with San Francisco & Chicago moves into Hampton Roads to anchor. Texas & Montgomery transit into the East Coast sea area and stop movement for the Spanish Squadron in the area.

Schley also transits his Squadron into the East Coast sea area and stops to look for the Spanish. Being in the same area, the two US Squadrons combine under Schley with their Transit orders.

Annapolis, Vicksburg, & Newport transit through the Florida Straits and then into the Bahamas sea area. Sampson moves his Squadron through the Florida Strait and into the Gulf of Mexico sea area to patrol. All other United States Squadrons sit at anchor.

Area Control & Victory Point Phase: Area Control is now determined. Many areas have no units at sea within them and thus become or remain uncontrolled. The United States player is the only player with a Squadron at sea in the Gulf Of Mexico and in the Bahamas, however the Squadron in the Bahamas has Transit orders so cannot exert sea control. The Patrol orders for the Squadron in the Gulf Of Mexico give the United States sea control there earning the United States player a victory point. The Spanish player has a Squadron in the North Yucatan Basin, but it has Transit orders, so cannot exert control. In the

Combat: Search: The only area with Squadrons of both players is the East Coast. The Spanish Squadron has 5 units and a 3 Star leader for a value of 8 plus a die roll which is a 4, for a total initiative value of 12. The United States player has 7 units plus a 2 Star leader for a value of 9 plus a die roll of 2 for an initiative value of 11. Thus the Spanish player wins the initiative for the East Coast sea area combat.

To perform the search refer to the Search Matrix Chart and find an indicated column by the Raid orders for the Spanish Squadron that won the initiative comparison. Next find a row by the Transit orders for the United States Squadron that lost the initiative comparison. Crossing these gives a result of 1-2 as the die roll range for a successful search. The Spanish player rolls a die and gets a 4, so the Squadrons do not find each other to have an at sea naval combat resolution, but there will still need to be a resolution of the Port Attack from the Raid orders for the Spanish Squadron.

The Raid on Hampton Roads resolves as follows. The 1st and 4th units of Cámara’s Squadron conduct the combat of the raid against the Hampton Roads port marker. Cámara is stacked with the Castilla and so adds another die to its 2 attack dice to attack with 3 dice while also adding another die to the 1attack die from the Cristina, which though starting as the 4th unit has become the second unit for this combat due to the Port Attack Resolution system (rule 7.5). The Port marker’s zero mine value gives it no ability to in return attack the Spanish raiding units. Castilla rolls two 1s and a 5 for a single hit. Cristina rolls a 3 and a 4 for no hits.

A die is now rolled for the single hit against the port. The roll is a 2, and the Hampton Roads port defense is a 3 so the port takes two points of damage markers and is turned over to its disabled side, but port is not destroyed so the raid has failed and no raid victory points are earned.

As there are no other areas in which to resolve combat, the 1st turn Combat Phase ends. ©2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898 East Coast sea area the United States Squadron with Transit orders cannot prevent the Spanish Squadron in the area with Raid orders from establishing area control, which earns the Spanish player four victory points. This shifts the Victory Point markers on the Victory Point track from +1 United States to +3 Spain. As the port was not destroyed, no extra Victory Points are earned for the raid itself.

Repair Phase: Finally, there is a Repair Phase to end the turn. There are no damaged units in ports, so the Repair number for each port is not needed this turn for ships. However, the Hampton Roads Port

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marker has two damage markers from the raid and has a repair capacity of four, so both damage markers are repaired by this and removed from the port marker.

TURN 2 New Forces & Orders Phase: Their are no new forces coming into play this turn. The Hampton Roads port marker that was flipped to its Disabled side is returned to its front, fully functional side (which would happen even if it had been destroyed, though in such a case it would have earned the Spanish Player more Victory Points).

Conclusion of Turn 1 moves

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898

Spanish Orders: Cámara’s Squadron in the East Coast sea area had Raid orders in the previous turn so must be given Transit orders for this turn.

Manterola La’s Squadron in the North Yucatan Basin had transit orders so must Coal, Anchor, or Transit again. It gets Coal orders, using up 2 of the Spanish Player’s possible 8 Spanish units that may have Coal orders while in a sea area during a turn. The Squadron with the Lepanto, Alfonso XIII, Asturias, & Carlos V that used Transit orders to reach the Canary Islands in the previous turn are given Anchor orders. The Cervera Squadron is given Patrol orders. Venadito & Alfonso XII in Havana are given Sortie orders. Several units will Transit as Independent Units, so no order markers for them are placed. They are Galicia in Cienfuegos, Mercedes in Santiago, and Isabel II in San Juan.

while moving on through the Nares Abyssal and into the Puerto Rico Passage. Galicia independently transits from Cienfuegos through the North Yucatan Basin and the Columbia Basin into the Puerto Rico Passage to join Cervera’s patrolling Squadron already in that sea area. Mercedes leaves Santiago on an independent unit Transit through the Bahamas sea area and into the Nares Abyssal.

Isabel II independent unit transits from San Juan through the Nares Abyssal to joint Mercedes in a Squadron that now is marked with a Transit order. Venadito & Alfonso XII sortie out of Havana into the Gulf Of Mexico sea area.

United States Movement: Howell’s Squadron moves out of Hampton Roads into the East

United States Orders: Howell with the San Francisco, Chicago, & Maintonomoh in Hampton Roads are given Patrol orders. Schley’s Squadron in the Bahamas is given a second consecutive Transit order, so will not be able to Transit again next turn. Newport, Annapolis, & Vicksburg in the Bahamas sea area are ordered to Coal. Sampson’s Squadron in the Gulf Of Mexico sea area will Coal. Watson’s Squadron in Key West is given Patrol orders. Terror, Puritan, & Amphitrite in Key West are given Blockade orders, with Havana as the opposing port in range as a target.

Spanish Movement: Cámara’s Squadron transit from the East Coast sea area through the North Atlantic and into port at Cádiz. Cervera’s squadron leaves the Canary Islands on patrol, dropping a patrolling Squadron consisting of the Colón & Pelayo in the South Atlantic sea area

Layout of the Battle Board for the Puerto Rico Passage ©2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898 Coast sea area on patrol. Schley’s Squadron transits from the Bahamas through the Windward Passage, continues through the Columbia Basin and ends movement by moving into the Puerto Rico Passage. Newport, Annapolis, & Vicksburg are coaling so remain unmoving in the Bahamas sea area. Terror, Puritan, & Amphitrite move out of Key West, passing through the Florida Strait and into the Gulf Of Mexico to blockade Havana. Watson’s Squadron leaves Key West , moving through the Florida Strait and then through the Bahamas sea area to enter the Nares Abyssal on patrol.

Sampson’s Squadron in the Gulf Of Mexico remains unmoved as it coals. The United States Squadrons now in the Gulf Of Mexico are compared to determine their conjunction. Sampson’s with the coal orders is larger so the blockading Squadron of Terror, Puritan, & Amphitrite are integrated into Sampson’s Squadron and placed

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in the stack in positions the United States player would want to use for a combat line with the entire Squadron remaining with Coal orders while the Blockade order marker is removed.

Combat: Three sea areas contain Squadrons of both players and thus need to resolve initiative and search to determine if there will be combat in those areas.

In the Nares Abyssal sea area the transiting Spanish Squadron made from the two previously independent units that ended movement there is a 2 plus a die roll of 2 for an initiative value of 4 while Watson’s patrolling Squadron has 2 stars just for its leader and 5 units for a total of 7 so easily wins the initiative without

Conclusion of Turn 2 combat

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Dawn of Empire: The Spanish-American Atlantic Naval War, 1898

even considering its die roll. Crossing the Initiative Patrol column with the Non-Initiative Transit line shows a 1-3 roll needed to have a successful search. The United States player rolls a 5, so the Squadrons never find each other and there is no combat to resolve.

defense, but not over it, so she survives, but only barely. And she will be returned to the nearest friendly port at the end of the combat round due to either of the 5 rolls for a disabled.

Oquendo rolls 2 attack dice and gets 2 ones, for no results.

Galicia rolls one attack die for a one result so also scores no hits.

This ends the first combat round.

For the leaders in this round of combat, the Massachusetts was disabled but took no damage so no die roll is needed for Schley, he just returns to port with his ship. However M Teresa was sunk, so Cervera is considered killed and is removed from play, along with his ship. The disabled Spanish ships are moved to San Jan and the disabled United States ships are moved to Key West.

As one Spanish unit remains, the Oquendo, there is not disengagement by gunfire. Since Oquendo is not faster than all of the United States units, she cannot disengage by speed, so another round of combat is needed. With only one unit, all United States units fire at the Oquendo, for 7 attack dice while reforming the United States battle line has the Oquendo fire on the Texas with 2 dice. Oquendo rolls a 2 and a 3 for no hit results. The United States units roll 2 sixes, 2 fours, 2 twos, and a one. The 2 sixes are rolled again for damage and get a five and a six, totaling eleven damage. Oquendo’s defense is only four, so she is sunk, ending combat for the Puerto Rico Passage sea area.

In the Gulf Of Mexico sea area Sampson’s Squadron has 9 units plus his 3 stars and gets a die roll of 2 for a total of 14 in initiative value. This easily wins over the two unit squadron of Spanish ships that sortied out of Havana which adds a die roll of 5 to its 2 units for a 7. Crossing the United States player using the Initiative column for Coaling with the Spanish using the Sortie line produces a range of 1-2 for the engagement roll. The US player, having the initiative, rolls and gets a six, so the Squadrons never find each other. This ends combat for the turn.

In the Puerto Rico Passage sea area Cervera’s Squadron is 4 units plus his 2 stars for 6 plus a die roll of 4 for a 10 initiative value while Schley’s Squadron is 7 units plus his 2 star leader rating to get to 9. The United States player rolls a 5, bringing the United States initiative value to 14 and winning the initiative in the area.

Crossing the Transit column from Schley’s Squadron with the Patrol line for Cervera’s Squadron produces a 1-3. The United States player rolls a 2, so there will be a naval battle in the Puerto Rico Passage.

The Spanish battle line is Teresa with Cervera aboard, followed

by Vizcaya, then Oquendo, and then Galicia. The United States battle line puts Massachusetts with Schley on board opposite and against Teresa, Brooklyn against Vizcaya, Texas against Oquendo, and New Orleans against Galicia in the first United States line.

But there remain more United States units, so they overlap to put in a second line Columbia also against M. Teresa, Minneapolis against Vizcaya, and Montgomery against Galacia.

For the first US attack lead by the Massachusetts, the US player will roll 7 dice for the Massachusetts, 1 for the Columbia, and 1 more for Schley. The results are 2 sixes, a five, 2 fours, 2 threes, and a one. Rolling two more dice to determine the damage inflicted by the 2 six result hits gets 2 threes for a total of 6 damage, well over the M. Teresa’s defense of 3, so she will be sunk at the end of the round.

The second attack lead by the Brooklyn has 5 dice from the attacking units plus another from Schley. The rolls are a six, 3 fives, and a one. Rolling a single die for damage from the six hit roll gets a two, so Vizcaya will have 2 damage points at the end of the round and any of the five results produces a Disabled so after the round ends the Vizcaya will be returned to the nearest friendly port automatically, with the additional 5 results having no effect.

Area Control & Victory Point Phase:

For area control, Spain controls the South Atlantic sea area or a The third attack group has 3 dice from the attacking units but is single victory point. The United States controls the East Coast sea past the limit for help from Schley so rolls just the 3 dice, getting area, but it earns no points. However, control of the Bahamas sea 2 ones and a single two for no hits. area earns the United States one point and United States control of

the Puerto Rico Passage earns another. So, after area control Spain The final attack group has 2 dice for attacks and rolls a single five is at +2 Victory Points. However, Spain has lost two CA type units and a single four. So Galacia will also be disabled and returned to for a United States victory point for each. Plus, Cervera was killed the nearest friendly port after the combat round ends. which earns the United States two more victory point to leave the

United States player ahead at +2 Victory Points at the end of the Next the Spanish ships return fire for the round as combat results second turn. within a round are considered simultaneous.

Repair Phase: M. Teresa has a 3 attack value plus one for Cervera for 4 dice. The Finally damage is repaired. Vizcaya in San Juan has one damage roll is one each of 5, 4, 3, & 2. So the Massachusetts is disabled point removed, leaving one damage point remaining. Brooklyn and will be forced to return to the nearest friendly port. in Key West has one damage point removed, which leaves four

damage points remaining. This ends the second turn.

Vizcaya also is a 3 attack plus one for Cervera for 4 dice. The roll is 2 sixes and 2 fives. Rolling two dice for the two 6 hits produces a 3 and a 2 for a total of 5 damage. This is equal to Brooklyn’s ©2020 Compass Games, Inc.

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